RHS Harlow Carr :: Autumn 2024

On Mondays I'm lucky enough to have J free from work responsibilities (he works a four day week) and it's something that we really appreciate and don't take for granted. Usually we chat together on Sunday evening and decide what we'd like to do with our precious child-free, work-free day. 

This week, with the weather looking very promising indeed (had to dig out the sunglasses!), I suggested a visit to the RHS  gardens at Harlow Carr to catch the last of the autumn colour before the cold weather really kicks in. J isn't quite so keen on flower gardens as I am, but he is a sweetheart and can generally be persuaded to indulge his needy wife when she declares she needs a nature colour-fix. 

I think we're ever so lucky to have these gardens within an easy drive (just 22 miles away) and they provide a lovely place to walk, picnic, drink coffee and flower-gaze pretty much all year round. Obviously in wintertime the floral offering is limited, but the gardens are a mixture of mature, structured planting alongside more naturalised woodland, riverside, ponds and green open space so it's always a pleasure to spend time there.

My favourite season in the garden is summer (I know, I'm totally predictable with this), and I absolutely love July-September at HC with its abundant flowers and the beautiful kitchen garden at it's exuberant best. It's a riot of colour (remember the Sungold inspiration?) which is obviously high on my personal list of priorities, but really, I'm very happy in this kind of place at any time of the year.

I've enjoyed a few Autumn visits over the years (see Blogtober 2021) so I knew that even as late as November there would probably be some delicious seasonal colour still in the foliage and trees. Add in a much longed for bright and sunny day with blue skies and well, it was visually stunning in the gardens on Monday.

As we don't have a garden here at number 24 (well not one that has borders, trees or shrubbery), I don't visit places like Harlow Carr for gardening inspiration. For me it's purely a creative/visual experience and I love to take photographs to capture the colours and seasonal vistas.

It was even more lovely than I had hoped, with some truly stunning leaf and foliage displays. There is a sizeable collection of Japanese Maples, all different leaf shapes and colours, and all of them looked glorious.

This one in particular was an absolute beauty, it had small, wispy, feathery type leaves in a whole range of colours from green, through yellow, orange and red.

The low afternoon sun absolutely lit up the leaves so it looked like it was glowing against the blue sky, it really was a wow moment.

I find that once my brain slots into colour-seeking mode, I become a little bit obsessed. J is very understanding (well I've always been this way, so he's had more than thirty years to get used to my brand of cray-cray), and patiently waits while I frame and take oodles of photographs.

As well as the colourful leafage, there were the most beautiful berries too...

....and with such intense colours set against the blue sky it was a colour-lovers dream.

There weren't a huge number of flowers to be found and many of the large herbaceous borders were in definite sleep-mode for the off season. There were a few hardy performers though - dahlias of course (a little stunner pictured above)...

...and surprisingly quite a few roses still blooming too. 

When I took photographs for my Sungold blanket last year, it was very early September and there was still a lot of floral colour in the garden then. HC has a large collection of salvias, and quite a few of them are still flowering now, although not in the great swathes that add so much colour to the summer borders. The above one really caught my eye, that deep violet-blue was really striking amongst all the greenery in the tropical garden.

The kitchen garden is always one of my favourite parts of any gardens that I visit, and I especially love the one at HC. It's large and laid out in a series of raised beds (made from recycled plastic bottles), with upright structure provided by lots of different tee-pees, arches, living willow fences and espaliered fruit trees. I generally think that veggie gardens won't be up to much in November, but there was still a surprising amount growing in this one (and looking soooooo bloomin' healthy and lush), and I spent a happy time pottering around admiring it all while J waited for me on a sunny bench.

We saw quite a few robins in the gardens, they are really friendly birds and not at all shy of the human visitors. This little one perched so beautifully for his portrait, enjoying a sunny afternoon hanging out by the Swiss Chard.

I mentioned earlier that HC has come lovely uncultivated and natural areas which is mostly woodland. I say uncultivated, but obviously these trees are beautiful specimens that are well looked after and many of them are labelled with their names. I enjoy walking the quiet, sun dappled woodland pathways, and at this time of year there is the added bonus of spotting these......

....oooooo, aren't they spectacular things? Fly Agaric of course, the famous, fairytale toadstools.

There were around six of them dotted about amidst the trees, some of them had seen better days but honestly they are so striking even when they're not at their best. There was a sign explaining what they were (although I think most people know, they are the famous rock stars of the toadstool family) and it was just lovely to see them doing their autumnal thing.

We had a picnic lunch which I'd made to take with us, sat on a sheltered bench with a lovely view (I think every single bench at HC has a lovely view), then treated ourselves to a very delicious coffee afterwards from the newly opened RHS café. 

It was a wonderful visit, rounded off with a beautifully inspiring, Christmassy browse in the RHS garden centre and shop on our way through to the exit. Ohhh, so, so, so many gorgeously wantable, decorative things! Whoever buys the merchandise for the RHS shops has extremely good taste, and the displays are always a delight. Next time I go (and I think that won't be too far in the future because hellloooooooo, shiny new Season Ticket), I'll take some photos of the displays to show you. 

I bought a bar of scrumptious chocolate by my fave local company Choc Affair (dark chocolate with clementine and cranberry, ohmygosh, it's divine), and two sweet little christmas decorations which I'll try and remember to show you.

We also bought three of these home in a paper bag.......

......famous Fat Rascals from Betty's bakery. Well at least they are famous up here in Betty-land. They're like a cross between a mildly spiced rock bun and a fruit scone (eat them warm with butter and jam), and the Little People were delighted. We definitely scored parenting points when we brought those home.

Such a bright and happy day, full of sunshine and the visual joys of the autumn season. I hope you've enjoyed sharing it with me, the colours really cheer the soul, don't they?

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Comments

[Corinna Mazzotta]

Such a fabulous colourful post Lucy which has lifted my spirits no end!
I must ask though - are you a proper photographer who knows about colour balance, ISO and all those confusing things? Or do you just have a point & shoot camera on auto? I ask because you always capture the colours so spectacularly in your pictures, which I find is so hard to do! I started a photography course, but then lockdown hit and I've never managed to get back to it, so have resorted to auto because I don't have a clue what I'm doing! 😂

[Elise]

Thank you for the beautiful fall photos. I don't get a lot of fall color in Southern California, Los Angeles suburb. I enjoy all of your post and think you are a great photographer as well as a great crochet designer.

[Nadine G]

Un nouveau post que j'ai lu et regarder les magnifiques photos avec plaisir, une explosion de couleurs. Merci et bon dimanche en famille.

[Kit]

Harlow Carr is so beautiful! I've only ever been in the depth of February, I did the exams for mt RHS qualifications at Craven College in Skipton in February of 2022 and 2023. Each time me and my husband made a weekend of it and went to Harlow Carr the next day. I'd love to go back and see it in other seasons.

I love your robin photo too. I work a community garden and we often get the cheeky little fellows following us round when we're digging in winter. Today there were three of them singing away at each other from different trees around the garden. It makes me laugh that to us humans their singing sounds so beautiful but to each other they're basically saying the bird equivalent of 'get off my land' 😆

[Marguerite]

Ah, such Glorious colours and sunshiney skies whilst it is cold and drizzly here in Goode, Virginia.
There is nowhere better than England for tasty goodies in my opinion. (America oversugars everything - dratted corn syrup)

[Chris]

Sorry, it was Linda who asked about Sungold.

[Chris]

Hello Lucy,
You can find it here in the archive. Scroll to the end of the first post and you will see all the links.
https://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2024/01/index.html

[April]

So lovely! You are inspiring me to find a time to go to our local boranic garden.

[Anna-Karin in Sweden]

Wow! How beautiful! Thank's for the colourboost!

[Kate]

Linda - it's here: https://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2024/01/sungold-blanket-cal-part-1.html

[Norma]

Thank you Lucy for being my guide around these gorgeous gardens.
Lots of inspiration too!
Xxx

[Andrea S.]

Thank you for the cheerful pictures! I've been needing a lift lately.

[Cathy Tucker]

I feel like I've been to the gardens with you. Xx

[Linda from Boston]

Sungold = Lacy Shell Stripe
Hope that helps

[Linda from Boston]

What beautiful pictures and colors!!! Thanks for taking us along.

[Linda Pankhurst]

May I please ask a question Lucy? I’ve bought a Sungold pack, and want to access the tutorial page but the link only takes me to the announcement page for the (then) future CAL.
How do I access the tutorial now? Thanks

[Kathryn Grimshaw]

Thank you for the lovely post Lucy. I am so envious of your visit to Harlow Carr as it is many years since we visited. We have our lovely George…a Cavalier cross/ Lhasa Apso and he goes everywhere with us but the gardens are not open to dogs!
Harlow Carr is such a beautiful place and I could spend all day just browsing. You have captured the colours so well, and they make my heart sing
We also love Fat rascals, and I will make sure we have our fix when we have a stay over in Harrogate at the beginning of December…..dog in tow! 😊
I will have to try to see the gardens next year!thanks for your post. ❤️

[Tineke]

Love, love it you indulged us with a colourful blog post. Thanks ;>*

[Deb]

What gorgeous pictures, Lucy, and any day that ends with a Fat Rascal is a good day. Though I eschew the butter and jam and have mine naked - the Fat Rascals, you understand, not me! But both of us gently warmed! 🤣

[Pam Buckley]

Hi lucy,
Thanks so much for the blog this morning it cheered me up no end, I love the colours of the leaves this time of year, and I do buy items on your recommendation ,I could eat that biscuit right now haha ,enjoy the rest of the day love n hugs 😘

[Donna]

Oh what a sumptuous feast of colour Lucy. What a fabulous day out. Thank you for sharing. That’s the kind of day out I would have loved if only.